For tracking and mixing I prefer Protools. The B3 is the schniizzle but also the piano and the synths are killer as well.
The audio tools, EQ, dynamics etc are overall very smooth sounding in PT. In many cases there is no counterpart in Sonar and similar VSTs are coarse sounding by comparison.

For midi tracks, PT is a major pain. Drag and drop for building midi is so inaccurate. VSTs require a wrapper. No x64 for handling numerous VIs. Sonar takes the lead for this. Tweaking/Tuning the environment in PT is archaic as well. Setting the processor load, etc., you can tweak the environment quicker in Sonar. x64 in PT, come on Avid.

I have been moving back and forth between both programs using the best of each. There are pros and cons for each one.

At least in Pro Tools you can specify how many of your cores you wish to use. Many people have found that they get better results by setting this to half the number of cores they have. I would like to experiment with core usage like that in Sonar. Of course in Pro Tools, any optimization I was able to accomplish in the core-tweaking department was offset by the fact that it's only 32 lousy bits. 

sharke


At least in Pro Tools you can specify how many of your cores you wish to use. Many people have found that they get better results by setting this to half the number of cores they have. I would like to experiment with core usage like that in Sonar. Of course in Pro Tools, any optimization I was able to accomplish in the core-tweaking department was offset by the fact that it's only 32 lousy bits. 

You can do this in windows.  With Sonar running, you will want to run Task Manager (start menu->taskmgr).  On the applications tab locate Sonar (or whatever other program you would like to change) and right click.  From the popup choose "Set Affinity".  From there you can choose which CPU/cores the program should be able to use.


These settings will be active until you close Sonar.   There use to be an Affinity program that you could use to make these types of changes permanent.  I'm sure if you do a quick google of 'Set Affinity' you'll find out all you ever wanted to know and more regarding this.


These instructions are for WinVista & Win7.  Not really using Win8 yet, but I'm sure google can help with that as well.

ive been working with pro tools 10 hdx, i think its pretty solid, not here to advocate other daw's but hell im down with anything that lets me be creative

"The audio tools, EQ, dynamics etc are overall very smooth sounding in PT. In many cases there is no counterpart in Sonar and similar VSTs are coarse sounding by comparison."

This is really surprising to hear!!  Most other rooms we work with that have both Sonar and PT say just the opposite. Of the stock plugin set that comes with PT, only the new Channel Strip can compete with most modern day emulations for quality sound and the Bomb factory 1176 emulation is really dated now. The air stuff is decent and serviceable. The bizarro backwards behavior of the Channel Strip's gate and Comp section are truly baffling however.

Sonar's plug set is heads and shoulders above by comparison and the Pro Channel FX are outstanding, especially the Soft Tube, Vocal Strip, and Mix Bus comps. Even if you just spring for the CA-2A and the Concrete Limiter, you basicly have the bulk of our UAD-1 library at 'HALF' the CPU hit and latency.

I love PT for tracking but for mixing and especially bussing, sonar kills it for workflow and sound quality. YMMV

Keysman

YMMV

It does.

Freddie H


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=twcrcv-vCTw#! 
  
 

 
+ 15years after with floating points...How many years will it take before they have x64 support? 30 years?

Pro Tools 11 is supposed to be out this year and is supposed to be entirely 64 bit. I welcome the idea

xabiton

Freddie H


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=twcrcv-vCTw#! 
 



+ 15years after with floating points...How many years will it take before they have x64 support? 30 years?

Pro Tools 11 is supposed to be out this year and is supposed to be entirely 64 bit. I welcome the idea

I pity the fools early adopters who will be pinning their hopes and $$$'s on a complete rewrite of the Pro Tools audio engine. 

sharke

xabiton

Freddie H


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=twcrcv-vCTw#! 




+ 15years after with floating points...How many years will it take before they have x64 support? 30 years?

Pro Tools 11 is supposed to be out this year and is supposed to be entirely 64 bit. I welcome the idea

I pity the fools early adopters who will be pinning their hopes and $$$'s on a complete rewrite of the Pro Tools audio engine. 

I don't think anyone is buying Pro Tools for its audio engine at least I would hope not. Buy Pro Tools because it appeals to how you work not because of a spec sheet. 

xabiton

sharke

xabiton

Freddie H


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=twcrcv-vCTw#! 




+ 15years after with floating points...How many years will it take before they have x64 support? 30 years?

Pro Tools 11 is supposed to be out this year and is supposed to be entirely 64 bit. I welcome the idea

I pity the fools early adopters who will be pinning their hopes and $$$'s on a complete rewrite of the Pro Tools audio engine. 

I don't think anyone is buying Pro Tools for its audio engine at least I would hope not. Buy Pro Tools because it appeals to how you work not because of a spec sheet. 

Yes but at the very least they require stability. Some time ago I read a post in the Avid forum in which someone from Avid chimed in and said that the reason why 64-bit was taking so long was because they were having to rewrite the audio engine from scratch. So it's basically all new code. Bound to have a few problems at first.